Memory from moving into apartment in China

  Memory from moving into our apartment in China. Ann Morrison Marklund A t u g S u s e l o r t i p o n f l s   3 m 0 t o ,   m u o g r r e 2 0 1 7 h d g n    ·  Shared with Your friends So today is the washing machine saga. When we washed clothes yesterday with our tiny front loading washing machine located in my teeny tiny kitchen, we found that the clothes were really hot when we took them out. In other words, the clothes are being washed in hot water. The first thing I did was try to decipher the picture of the machine on the wall of the kitchen. Part of it is in English, words like "cold", "rinse", but it still does not make sense. So I wechatted (Chinese social media) to the previous resident of the apartment in Vancouver, BC. I asked her how she got cold into her washing machine. She wrote that the diagram was on the wall of the kitchen. That did not help. So while I was wondering what the next step was, the maids came to the apartment door to ask if...

Road to Indonesia---BATS

 I just got caught outside in the rain.  There is no church here now and I was up early, and my  lessons for next week were weighing on my mind, so I went to school at about 6.  I feel relieved now about things for next week, but as I walked home at 7:30, I heard the rain start to chase me. It was an uncomfortable feeling, because I could hear it and even see it sweeping in off the mountain, but knew that I could not outrun it. If it had been Panama I might have just stepped into a doorway somewhere and waited the 20 minutes that it took, but one is never sure here in Papua how long the rains are going to last. It also was not a Panamanian Embarrassing Rain, so called, because it rains so hard that one's clothes are completely soaked to the point of embarrassment. So I just walked as fast as I could the 1/4 of mile or so I had yet to get home and arrived soaked. It is always warm and it is easy to change clothes, so everything is fine. Why didn't I have an umbrella? ...

Road to Indonesia----49th Anniversary.

 We forgot until about 3 p.m. this afternoon that today is our 49th weddng anniversary.  It is always in some way related to the busy time around the beginning of school. Tonight was the parent/teacher open house and we were busy teaching and then with the meeting.  I had remembered earlier in the week, but just not today.  Rick came into the classroom after school and reminded me. It does not mean that we do not love and appreciate each other. It just means that we are busy.  We also have no real place to go. No transport, and semi locked down.  So we ate the supper which the school had prepared for teachers for staying late.  We are home and soon will head to bed. I could write much about the many years together and how we basically work very well as a team. I could write how our outlook on life has made it possible for us to travel and support each other through  so many transitions.  I could write about our 4 lovely children and 5 grandch...

Road to Indonesia---Banking

 After a year and a half of being locked out of our China bank account, we seemingly are on the last leg!!  This summer we finally were able to fulfill the directions sent out the beginning of December, 2020 as to how finally we could get our money without sending our actual passports to China (which was just impossible).  We wrote a letter assigning banking privileges to a friend in Beijing. We had the letter and photocopies of our passports notarized. Then the paperwork had to be verfied by the Pennsylvania Secretary of State.  (We did these steps 8 months ago before we went to Indonesia, but the notary had exchanged our paperwork and made Rick's mine, and mine Rick's. And so we repeated the process first thing in the US this summer.) Then these forms must be verfied by the Chinese embassy.  We had to hire an agent to do this step (expensive).  All of this paperwork has been sent to our friends/co-workers in China!.....But, as often happens with us, the o...

Road to Indonesia---School

 Three days of school done. One face-to-face and 2 online.  Truthfully, this is the first time I have taught online. Now, of course, I have spent a year teaching online for Peking University, but I have recorded my lectures and just sent that. Considering that I was in the States with a 12 hour difference for at least part of the time, I am glad that this was a possibility.  However,  here with high school students and teaching many hours a day, it has become necessary for me to be able to use Google Classroom. I could not be more proud of myself!!! I have even learned to use two monitors while I teach, so I can show the students my desktop documents and still keep an eye on them.  For someone my age and so technologically challenged, I am just bursting that I was able to learn this....and rather quickly. Of course, the school realizing Rick and my ineptitude assigned an aide to us for the first 3 days to help.  His time was well spent and we both now suppo...

Road to Indonesia---Gospel

 Some prayer requests from the translators in church yesterday:  The Dem tribe which had come enmasse to acceptance of Christ a few months ago, just suffered the death of two 11 year old boys.  I assume they died of covid.  The missionaries reported that the parents, who had recently become Christians, are  staying strong.  But of course there are all the questions that come with deaths at any time, and within the culture their beliefs about what causes death reflect on their recent conversions.  \ Another missionary reported that the Pulu tribe is in the middle of intertribal war and political unrest.  A three person team flew in a few months ago to begin Bible storying, which will lead to the presentation of the claims of the gospel.  There are about 130 people who are attending the storying 6 days a week. Some have walked 4 hours to be able to attend.  There is a month or more of meetings left.  The missioanries were asking for p...